Law on buying a RIF

[Jambo88]

Not going to lie, I have no idea why. The guys may have turned down a two-toning request due to the proximity to Christmas.

I think it's just poor customer service.

 

[Deek]

A retailer can choose whether to sell an item or not, that is their right as a retailer - an item may be advertised for sale and may even have a price on it, but they are well within their legal rights to refuse a sale, and there is no requirement for the retailer to give a reason; a contract for sale is only made one payment has been offered by a customer and the retailer accepts that payment.

Even if the retailer gets confused about the law they can still refuse to sell; we see this across a lot of airsoft retailers who refuse to sell a RIF to a person without UKARA registration - there is no where in law that states you must have UKARA registration to buy a RIF, but the majority of retailers insist on this.

Once payment has been accepted, then a contract has been made and so the Sale of Goods Act comes into force, but until then there isn't an awful lot that you can do...

 

[Sitting Duck]

Well I have bought a few RIF's from them and never had a problem

(I was ukara'd so didn't need 2-tone)

Others have had trouble but then I had problems with LWA but I have still bought stuff recently there

Think if you want a RIF painted you will always run into possible trouble

it may have been a mis-understanding or maybe they couldn't be ar$ed as most are winding down now

On top of that - at certain times the popular models can be tricky to come by in stock

G&G Raider's were a little thin on ground over summer and think certain types/models are sold out at some places now

Anyway - it don't matter guy ordered his gun so hopefully he will get it asap for new year skirmish

so lets hope all's well that ends well

Ho Ho Ho & all that crap

 

[Chock]

Regardless of what their reason is for them not selling her the rifle, if as you say, they told her that 'they can't sell to anyone without a valid defence even if it is two tone', then that is absolutely incorrect. As many have already confirmed, there is no defence required to own a two tone, in fact if you are eighteen years of age, theoretically you could walk up the main high street of your town openly carrying a properly two toned airsoft rifle about and you'd not be breaking any laws, provided it was inert at the time (though I'd not recommend anyone doing that by the way).

Are you sure that your GF didn't misunderstand what they said? i.e. if they had no rifles which were two-toned sat on the shelf (which is likely since the one in question is a limited edition, so they're unlikely to two-tone those on spec, since doing so would devalue it to a potential collector), then there'd presumably be a wait involved in getting one painted up, whereas a black one would be available immediately, but she would need a valid defence (typically a UKARA) to buy one of those and walk out with it immediately. That's the only thing i can think of which might explain her coming away empty handed.

Anyway you got your rifle, that's the main thing. Got the exact same rifle myself the other day and I can confirm that they're very nice, even the freebie BBs which come in the box are of decent quality. Apart from adding a tac light, tactical fore grip, three point sling and possibly removing the fore sight, I'll be happy to keep mine standard, which says a lot about the quality of the thing as it comes straight out of the box.

 

[TheGrover]

Chock,

The firearms act explicitly forbids carrying an imitation firearm in public, so you cannot walk down the street with an airsoft gun even if it is well two-toned, so people should DEFINITELY not do that

 

[Chock]

Yup, it does indeed forbid carrying an imitation firearm in public, but a two toned gun is, by definition, not an imitation firearm, if it was, then you'd need a specific defence for buying one of those too, which as we know, you don't, because it isn't an imitation firearm if it is two toned, since the purpose of two toning it to make it apparent that it isn't a firearm. If this was not the case, then painting a two tone black would not be classed as manufacturing a RIF, since it would, by that definition, already be a RIF.

But in any case it's a moot point as far as my point was concerned, since I wouldn't recommend waving even a transparent green plastic ray gun about on the street, because you can guarantee some berk would, via chinese whispers, claim you were waving a .50 calibre belt-fed anti aircraft gun around, and then an armed response unit would turn up and shoot you.

 

[DX115FALCON]

Are you sure that your GF didn't misunderstand what they said? i.e. if they had no rifles which were two-toned sat on the shelf (which is likely since the one in question is a limited edition, so they're unlikely to two-tone those on spec, since doing so would devalue it to a potential collector), then there'd presumably be a wait involved in getting one painted up, whereas a black one would be available immediately, but she would need a valid defence (typically a UKARA) to buy one of those and walk out with it immediately. That's the only thing i can think of which might explain her coming away empty handed.

That part that I've put into bold in your message is 100% correct. Spoke to one of my mates who works in Airsoft World this morning and they confirmed that they do not stock them "pre-two toned" due to the limited edition nature of the products.

 

[jcheeseright]

Yup, it does indeed forbid carrying an imitation firearm in public, but a two toned gun is, by definition, not an imitation firearm, if it was, then you'd need a specific defence for buying one of those too, which as we know, you don't, because it isn't an imitation firearm if it is two toned, since the purpose of two toning it to make it apparent that it isn't a firearm. If this was not the case, then painting a two tone black would not be classed as manufacturing a RIF, since it would, by that definition, already be a RIF.

But in any case it's a moot point as far as my point was concerned, since I wouldn't recommend waving even a transparent green plastic ray gun about on the street, because you can guarantee some berk would, via chinese whispers, claim you were waving a .50 calibre belt-fed anti aircraft gun around, and then an armed response unit would turn up and shoot you.

http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/d_to_g/firearms/#a03

You're wrong. An imitation firearm (IF - 2-tone) is legally defined by the CPS in the link above. You wave one round in the street and you're comitting a crime. Yet another hole in the VCRA, it doesn't actually make any impact on reducing crime.

 

[Chock]

Fair enough, but as you say, makes little impact on reducing violent crime if it is illegal to wave a model of a star trek phaser about in the street. Ye canne change the laws of physics Jim, but we probably should change the law on RIFs. :lol:

 

[Jambo88]

That part that I've put into bold in your message is 100% correct. Spoke to one of my mates who works in Airsoft World this morning and they confirmed that they do not stock them "pre-two toned" due to the limited edition nature of the products.

My order was dispatched this morning. So either they painted it very late last night or it was in stock.

 

[jcheeseright]

I can kinda see AWs point here, there's no real reason for them to keep 2-tone guns in stock. If they keep them as RIFs until they're sold they can sell them both ways... If they pre-paint them then they can't then sell those guns to people who don't want a 2-tone.

The reason she couldn't just pop in and get a 2-tone gun I expect is that to do a half decent job of spraying something it takes about 30-40 minutes including prep, drying between coats etc. Thats the best part of an hour for her to wait, and for a staff member to not be on the shop floor. What I would do is spray 2-tone guns in batches when the shop is shut/very quiet, saves time and ultimately money.